Mali: OCHA Funds to Curb Humanitarian Crisis

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said its recently approved seven-million-dollars allocation of the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) will be used to meet the needs of vulnerable persons in Gao, Kidal and Mopti in northern Mali.

The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, approved the funds in December 2022.

According to OCHA, the new CERF allocation will help fund five projects for one-year multisectoral assistance in education and protection, access to water and hygiene and sanitation for displaced children.

The organisation noted that the fund will help provide life-saving assistance to 423,000 people in need, including internally displaced persons, refugees and host communities in Gao, Kidal and Mopti regions affected by insecurity and multifaceted conflicts.

According to a situation report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the centre and north of Mali continue to be affected by constant insecurity due to attacks by non-state armed groups against civilians, intra- and inter-community conflicts.

The increasing human rights and international humanitarian law violations, violent attacks by armed groups now affect civilians throughout most of the country.

This has resulted in an estimated 7.5 million people (over one in three Malians) requiring humanitarian assistance in 2022, a 20 percent increase since 2021.

Between January and December 2022, northern Mali faced increasing population movements, with more than 72,500 people newly displaced due to clashes between rival armed groups, multifaceted inter-community conflicts and military operations by the Malian armed forces against the non-state armed groups.

The Humanitarian Coordinator in Mali, Alain Noudéhou, appreciated this emergency allocation as the expression of a renewed commitment by the international community to mobilise and act promptly so that vital humanitarian assistance reaches the people in need.

Photo source: EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid

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